Field of the Invention
The present inventive discovery is directed to the use of a device capable of producing a finite or substantially contained magnetic field or flux field. The inventive device and related discovery uses a magnetic flux field which has been determined to be capable of relieving pain associated with degenerative diseases and disorders in mammals such as humans.
Pain is considered an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage. This definition, formulated in 1980 by the International Association for the Study of Pain, emphasizes the psychological contribution to the experience of pain. (The same group has also used the term nociception--from the word noxious--for the experiencing of a stimulus that is tissue damaging.) Thus, the definition is primarily applicable to humans. Pain is also the single most common complaint for which people visit doctors.
Animals exhibit behavior that can be labeled pain, and such behaviors have been studied intensively in research on the mechanisms of pain and in trials of potential pain-relieving drugs; but whether animals have the strong psychological component to pain that humans do is doubtful.
Acute pain starts with the stimulation of one or more of the many special sense receptors, called nociceptors, in the skin or internal organs. These receptors receive information about intense heat, extreme pressure, sharp pricks or cuts, or other events that can cause body damage. Two types of nerve fibers carry this information from the nociceptors to the spinal cord: A-delta fibers, which transmit information quickly and appear to be responsible for the acute sense of pain; and C-type fibers, which transmit impulses more slowly and may cause the nagging sense of pain.
At the spinal cord, messages from nociceptors may be modulated by other spinal nerves that enhance or, more frequently, diminish the intensity of the pain stimulus. The impulse then travels to several parts of the brain. Some brain areas determine where the pain is and what is causing it, while other areas integrate the sensory information with the total state of the organism and produce the emotional sensation called pain. These same brain centers can activate long nerve fibers that descend to the place in the spinal cord where the pain signal originates and decrease the signal.
In the mid-1970s, researchers showed that many fibers that inhibit pain messages in the spinal cord release a neurotransmitter called enkephalin. Some areas of the brain that process pain messages secrete a related chemical called endorphin. Although the exact roles of these two substances in pain perception is not yet clear, scientists hope that studies of these chemicals may eventually give rise to better modes of pain treatment.
The complex nature of pain is illustrated by anecdotes about soldiers who are severely wounded and do not complain of pain, or of athletes who are injured but do not experience pain until the contest is over. In some cultures, an operation called trepanning is performed on the skull without anesthetic. On the other hand, scientists have recently shown that the expectation of pain can actually intensify the experience, perhaps by inducing anxiety. The emotional component of pain is also illustrated by words frequently used to describe it, such as "vicious," "nauseating," and "nagging."
Acute pain--such as that produced by physical trauma or burns or following surgery--is most often treated with analgesic drugs, which can range from aspirin to morphine. In the terminal stages of cancer, combinations of painkilling drugs may be used, including psychotropic medication such as a tranquilizer or an antidepressant. In some patients who have had surgery, pain is effectively relieved by a nerve block: the injection of an anesthetic into the regional nerve center through which the nerves from the surgery site pass. With certain types of back pain, surgery can correct the problem causing it.
Beginning about 1965, physicians came to appreciate the uniqueness of the condition called chronic pain. In this syndrome, patients may complain of pain for years, without having any apparent organic injury as cause. Researchers suggest that chronic pain is a behavior state, initiated by a real injury, in which the pain has lasted so long that it has itself become the disease. Of the many millions of Americans who suffer from chronic pain, one-third have back pain and another third arthritis. Many of these patients are dependent on strong painkilling medicines, and they usually have fallen into a cycle of pain, depression, and inactivity.
A number of special clinics have been formed to treat people who suffer from chronic pain. Such clinics emphasize reduction of drug dosages, along with exercise, activity therapy, and relaxation techniques such as hypnosis and biofeedback. Some include psychological counseling, and many attempt to change learned pain behaviors by enlisting the patient's family. In other cases, patients are helped by an electronic device, called a transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulator, that can be activated to send an electronic current up the spinal cord. How this device works is not known, but it may stimulate the brain to send pain-inhibiting impulses down the spine.
Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD), sometimes referred to as myofacial pain dysfunction or temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome, disorder involving the muscles of the jaw used for chewing (masticatory muscles) and/or the temporomandibular joint, which connects the lower jaw to the skull.
The chief symptom of TMD is pain, typically in the jaw muscles, the region in front of the ear, and the temporomandibular joint. Limitations in using the jaw comfortably and joint sounds (clicking, popping, or grating noises) when the jaw is being used are also commonly present. However, many people (approximately 25 percent) normally have such joint sounds in the absence of pain. Pain can spread to the muscles of the shoulders and neck. Much more rarely, TMD can cause disturbances of vision and balance.
Although TMD is a fairly common chronic pain disorder, its causes are only poorly understood; they may include trauma to the face, grinding of the teeth (bruxism), and arthritis. "Bad bite," or malocclusion of the teeth, is no longer considered a cause of TMD. Stress and other emotional factors appear to play an important role in TMD but are probably more a reaction to the painful condition than a cause of it.
Conventional treatment methods emphasizes a combination of conservative, reversible therapies, such as muscle relaxation exercises, analgesics, and sometimes removable bite plate appliances--plastic devices, usually worn during sleep, that cover the chewing surfaces of the upper teeth and discourage teeth grinding. Surgery of the temporomandibular joint is necessary only in a few severe cases.